1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an aqueous solution of an aromatic percarboxylic acid which has been stabilized with at least an equal amount of the aromatic carboxylic acid corresponding to the aromatic percarboxylic acid and with an aqueous solution of perglutaric acid stabilized by means of excess H.sub.2 O.sub.2 and/or with a 10% to 60% strength solution of H.sub.2 O.sub.2, and also to the use thereof as a disinfectant or bleaching agent.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Aromatic percarboxylic acids are known to be highly effective biocides having a broad spectrum of activity as well as bleaching and oxidizing agents (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,248,336 and 4,221,660). Aromatic percarboxylic acids can be prepared by reaction of the corresponding aromatic carboxylic acid or a corresponding activated carboxylic acid derivative such as, for example, an aromatic carboxylic anhydride, with hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution (see Ullman's Enzyklopadie der Technischen Chemie, Vierte Ansgabe, Verlag Chemie, Band 17, Seiten 669-670).
As a practical matter, however, aromatic percarboxylic acids are seldom employed, because their solubility in water-based formulations is too low and their stability in aqueous solutions is not satisfactory. Although, with the exception of perbenzoic acid, aromatic percarboxylic acids are adequately stable in solid form, they can seldom be employed in practice due to their low solubility and speed of solution in liquid use formulations. Admittedly attempts have been made, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,336, to employ aromatic percarboxylic acids in aqueous solutions of bleaching agents containing tert-butyl alcohol and water in a 1:1 ratio. Such solutions are, however, unsuitable because of their odor, the volatility of the tert-butyl alcohol present in a relatively high concentration and their low flash point. Attempts also have been made to employ as disinfectants saturated aqueous solutions of substituted aromatic percarboxylic acids containing an undissolved excess of the percarboxylic acids (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,660). Such solutions have not met with success in practice, since the percarboxylic acids themselves are not adequately stable under these conditions.
Finally, from British Pat. No 1,566,671 it is known to employ solid mixtures of an activated aromatic carboxylic acid derivative, such as, for example, a carboxylic acid ester, and a source of H.sub.2 O.sub.2, such as, for example, sodium percarbonate, together with further additives necessary for storage stability, to produce disinfectant solutions of aromatic percarboxylic acids when dissolved in water. The disadvantages of such mixtures are the handling of dust-forming powders, the slow rate of solution and the limited stability of the use solutions derived therefrom, which must have a relatively high pH because of the reaction of the carboxylic acid ester with the H.sub.2 O.sub.2 source. Moreover, the ratio of active compound to diluent in these solid mixtures is not economically efficient.